Kayakoy Things to Do

Kayakoy was a thriving Greek community of about 1500 houses. However, in 1923 Turkey and Greece signed an agreement to repatriate each others citizens and the residents of Kayakoy were deported back to greece.There is a new village here now but the large old towns ruins can still be visited.Its an eerie place, there are houses, churches etc on...

Once upon a time this town had 25,000 inhabitants . In 1922 there was a recriprocal agreement between Turkey and Greece to exchange people: the Greek went back but the Turks didn't come here and hence the Greek town of Kayakoy became abandoned. Several earthquakes later, notably the one in 1957, the town took on its ghost like appearance with its...

We visited Kayaköy from our turkish resort of Olu Deniz in south west Turkey. Simply take the road from Fethiye towards Ölüdeniz lagoon, and when you reach Hisarönü (mountain village above Ölüdeniz ) follow the signposts to Karymlassos. Five kilometres further on there is a steep hillside covered with the ruins of stone houses.

There were two churches here - Panaghia Pyrgiotissa in the lower part of the village and Taksiyarhis in the upper part. They remain standing but all around hundreds of stone houses, monasteries, chapels, workshops, schools, hospital, library and other buildings have not fared so well with the forces of nature..or otherwise....

In 1988 a project was begun to restore Kayaköy as a symbol of peace and friendship between Turkey and Greece. Eventually the Chamber of Architects and TÜRSAB plan to restore the churches, with their stone carving, stucco reliefs and frescos, and also some of the old houses. it would indeed be interesting to revisit and see if this has happened and...

Kayakoy Restaurants

Hi,I am French and I live in Berlin since three years. This summer I came to the area of Fethiye for the second time. To the people who are interested in Greek-Turkish history and the life of Anatolian Greek before the population exchange agreement, I can only recommand to go and visit the old city of Kayaköy, which can easily be reached with the...

This is a restaurant run by a family on the road that the old ruins start fromWell worth a visit, the food is great, the family friendly, and the wife cooks Turkish style virtually in front of you
The Turkish pancakes

Kayakoy Warnings and Dangers

The guide takes you into the church , how much money can he get from you using charm? Falling for it is very easy as many English go there and do not realise that the place is being used for dealing drugs. Police are not aware but tourists are being used . The locals try and get money from you from being as nice as possible!Be careful if your...

Being my clumsy self, I made the silly mistake of leaning on a pillar near the altar of the lower church. It began to fall, and was just saved from smashing by my highly embarassed father. Even so, this should serve as a warning, do not trust the buildings in Kayakoy, they have not fared well over time and unfortunately, if no drastic action is...

When walking across the ghost town of Kayakoy, there are many awkward gaps, steep climbs and the most common of all, slippery rocks, that have to be walked across in order to get the most out of the area, therefore, DO NOT make the same mistake I did and wear sandals or something similar. Wear something with a good grip so you can at least reach...

Kayakoy Tourist Traps

The hygiene at the Antik Restaurant is really bad, food poisoning is common.

Unique Suggestions:
At least be careful of the meat you're eating, (lots of cats about around there at certain times) then no more!! Especially in the summer. They make the wine themselves though. They really want you to have a lot too make sure you'll stay because they are desperate to get your money.

The money is for smoking funny smelling stuff!

The snakes don't come from the mountain too often so that's good.

Only the black snakes are at the ruins but you don't see them much!

Fun Alternatives:
Best to forget Kayakoy it's dangerous! In ways that I did not imagine. Slipped even at Muzzy's place. In fact kept hurting my feet on rocks sticking out everywhere.

Better to go to Salikent but as a guided tour so that the waiters, cannot hit on you all the time. Until they've got enough money in the bank for getting out of that place. They find it boring and don't understand why English keep going on about the ruins there. Although they love to talk about the history of the Ottomans and the Sultans who would kill their own families.

Related to:

Archeology

Wine Tasting

Backpacking

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Kayakoy Off The Beaten Path

There are holes in the ground when you walk through the ruins & there is a bull. It is not fenced off and if you walk around the ruins suddenly there you are face to face with the bull.None of the adverts warn you of this & you have to run if you end up in the same part of the ruins that it is in. As sometimes it seems to be able to roam free. You...

That's already off the beaten path enough. When we were there, there were only few other tourists.The picture shows the view on the ocean you get from next to the sentinel (a picture of which you can see on my Kayakoy main page). Nice, isn't it?

Kayakoy Favorites

Fondest memory:
We made a day of it here by walking from Hirasonu (we caught the bus up the hill from Olu Deniz) to Kayakoy, clambered up the ruins (follows the arrows on the stones!) for the stupendous view at the top and then made our way through pine forest paths with gorgeous views over the coastline of Fethiye in one direction and then turning towards the lagoon you get this amazing view...It was a hot but enjoyable walk, decided on the spur of the moment and we were totally unprepared with no water or food..so don't make our mistake. Fortunately we made it back to base just before a thunderstorm broke out.

Kayakoy is situated near enough right next to Oludeniz, where we stayed during our trip to Turkey, but as they are seperated by large hills and the like, a journey to nearby Fethiye and then up a long...